Lexical Investigations: Stuff

As a noun and a verb, the word stuff has had many lives, dating all the way back to the 1300s. The sense of wool and cloth is chiefly British. In the nineteenth century, a junior barrister was called a “stuff gownsman,” because his robes were made of wool, unlike a barrister appointed to the Queen’s Council, who was called a “silk gownsman,” and whose promotion was called “taking silk.” Writings from this era often refer simply to “stuffs” and “silks,” and around the turn of the century, the British newspaper Pall Mall Gazette ran a legal column called “Silk and Stuff.”

If you’re traveling in England today, you can say you’re stuffed when your appetite is fully sated, though be aware of other, less savory senses of this term. In British English, the verb “to stuff” can be a vulgar way of saying to have sex, and “get stuffed” is a very rude expletive.

Over time stuff has evolved into many idiomatic expressions, such as “to know one’s stuff,” “stuffy,” and “kid stuff.” The American phrase “stuffing the ballot-box” first appeared in the 1850s and gained traction during the 1856 presidential election that brought James Buchanan into office. This election, which focused on slavery and the future of the Union, was especially fraught for its day.

In the 21st century, stuff is also commonly used to refer to things that one owns regretfully, but cannot part with, as in the third quotation below.